Sweet Deliverance

Sorry for the recent inactivity. I’m a college student, and one without time management skills at that.

Reading Psalm 130 this morning, this phrase caught my eyes- “O Israel, hope in the Lord…he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”

As my friend David helpfully pointed out in the comment feed on a previous post, redemption language in the Old Testament usually refers to deliverance, most notably deliverance from Egypt in what was essentially the creation of the nation of Israel. Later on, God promises to redeem Israel from all his other enemies.

That makes this phrase in Psalm 130 so fantastic- God will deliver Israel from all his iniquities. I mentioned this in my other blog, that the theme of crushing or head-crushing, a concept usually applied to enemies, is also applied to our sin in Micah 7.

The reason I love this is because it gives full warrant for me to think of my sin as an enemy. When I sin against God, that is legitimately my sin, my fault. In that sense, I am the aggressor. But because I have been redeemed, made new, adopted, regenerated, etc., I can also speak as though I am the victim of my own sin. Satan is trying to hold us captive to this body of death, and God will have none of it. He will squash our sin underfoot like a bug, and redeem us from all our iniquities.

When I sin, I can repent and turn to God without feeling like I’m the enemy. I was; now I’m not. Sin is the enemy, and Christ is the Victor.